Just spent the morning researching tomorrow’s blog on the Swansea match and watching Tottenham v. Wolves on the computer while simultaneously watching Chelsea Sunderland on the TV. I also did a little more research into the topic of second halves and how Arsenal struggle in them.

But first! Did you know that Adebayor is making £225,000 a [...]]]>

Just spent the morning researching tomorrow’s blog on the Swansea match and watching Tottenham v. Wolves on the computer while simultaneously watching Chelsea Sunderland on the TV. I also did a little more research into the topic of second halves and how Arsenal struggle in them.

But first! Did you know that Adebayor is making £225,000 a week? Yeah, I guess the story goes like this: Redknapp overheard Adebayor bragging to some Spurs player about his salary while in the shower and Ade claimed the £225 a week figure.

Talk about measuring dicks.

There’s also the slightly strange story about Gary Cahill’s negotiations with Chelsea. Apparently Bolton accepted the derisory offer of £7m from Chelsea pretty much as soon as the transfer window opened but Cahill’s been holding out over the issue of salary. He was, incredibly, thinking he deserved £100,000 a week, possibly on the back of the sterling performances that have seen Bolton plummet to the foot of the table, but eventually settled for £80,000.

I’m just shaking my head in incredulity.

Still, this raises a couple of problems for Arsenal. First, and most importantly, how the hell are Arsenal going to hold on to Robin van Persie? Adebayor is a decent striker when he feels like it and he’s on somewhere near three times the money that Robin is rumored to be making right now. Meanwhile Gary Cahill is a lump of a defender who I suspect will make David Luiz look like the bargain of the decade once Chelsea see him try to make a decent pass. And he’s on £80k? If Arsenal are going to retain Robin I have a sneaking feeling that they are going to have to break the salary structure.

Second, ummm… Redknapp, while bragging about how he’s cobbled together this team on the cheap, which isn’t exactly true (via @geraldpjclarke), let slip that Spurs can’t afford the type of salary that Adebayor is making. Given that Adebayor is almost certainly the reason why Spurs have suddenly started scoring goals that means Manchester City are essentially helping to fund a rival team’s challenge to their title. Which, while I enjoy the irony, I still find it disturbing that any team can loan a player to another team and subsidize that player’s salary.

Now before some hater jumps on me, I’d be willing to bet that Arsenal have done it and I am aware that it’s perfectly within the rules to pick up part of the tab for a player’s salary. I just think it’s something that needs to be looked at.A team like City could, conceivably, keep loaning Adebayor to Spurs at a steep discount in order to help destabilize the other top four clubs. It would be a gamble but I could see it happening.

Those of you who were waiting for Arsene’s “Amaury Bischoff Signing” of 2011 may have to wait a couple more days as complete unknown Saad Al-Mukhaini is only on trial for a couple days. And for the one guy out there who has seen him play for Oman and thinks it’s crazy that I don’t know who this guy is, congratulations, you found me out. I don’t watch International football and certainly don’t follow Fanja SC.

Yes, yes I know… he comes highly recommended from Paul le Guen. Let’s hope he’s good enough and that Arsenal sign him. Looks like all the other players we’ve been linked to are saying they don’t want to play for Arsenal.

Right, now on to the games.

The highlight of the Wolves match, for me, was when Frimpong went to clear the ball out of defense and kicked it straight into Rafael van der Vaart’s face. That’s the blurry picture above. Frimpong also did what he does best which is to say that he mixes sweet play with utter mindlessness. He picked up a yellow card early for a stupid tackle and frankly was lucky to stay on the pitch after a couple more stupid tackles. Mick McCarthy took him off and I hope he has a word with him about why he had to do that.

Frimpong is frustrating. He’s the kind of guy who gets hauled off because he’s playing recklessly and as he’s leaving the pitch endears himself to the Arsenal supporters by blowing kisses to Spurs fans. For me, the fact that he would “run through walls” for Arsenal isn’t enough. He needs to run through the right walls at the right time and as it stands he’s just running randomly through every wall he sees.

The Chelsea game… meh.

Ok, as promised I made two follow-up charts to yesterday’s post on Arseblog News. The first is a listing of all the Premier League teams and their first half and second half goal-scoring records.

Arsenal actually have a decent record in terms of scoring goals in the second halves of games with 20 goals so far this season. Fourth place there is respectable.

Unfortunately, their defense is another story.

I think everyone knows exactly which second half goals they would cut out from that list.

Even if you want to discard the whole research project and just say that red cards are the only thing that matter (which still doesn’t explain other dips) Arsenal might want to consider preparing for red cards. In the year and a half since Ryan Shawcross broke Aaron Ramsey’s leg, Arsenal have had 11 red cards. In the three and a half years prior, Arsenal had 9 red cards. Either cut out the red cards or be prepared to play with a man down.

Qq

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Good day to you Truth Seekers, Jessie Venture here. I know it’s [...]]]> When football is at its lowest ebb. When thugs and criminals rule the day. One man will stand up for truth and justice. One man will pull back the curtain and expose the lies for what they are. That man is Jessie the Footballer Venture.

Good day to you Truth Seekers, Jessie Venture here. I know it’s been a while but while Tim is laid up with a case of the Brown Bottle Flu I’ve stepped out my role as “ambassador” for an unnamed country and into the role of blogger to file the following report.

Many of you don’t know me so I’ll give a brief bio: I’m a Truth Seeker in all aspects of life and I encourage others to seek Truth in everything they do as well. I’ve done numerous “odd jobs” for the US Government and had a starring role in the documentary film Predator. I like to put ironic “quote marks” around things and one time The Most Interesting Man In The World bummed a smoke off me outside a pub in Bogata, TX. He was down on his luck and just needed someone to talk to, I’m the one who told him he should have his life documented on film. In some way, I’d like to think I started his career.

But you’re not here for me, you’re here because you are worried about tomorrow’s match against Tottenham and you should be. The fix is in Truth Seekers and you need look no further than the appointment of Mike Dean as referee and the fact that the FA has allowed Emmanuel Adebayor to sign for Tottenham as proof.

Mike Dean is a known operative for the secret organization Cyprian Underground Neo-Territorialists whose sole mission is to destroy Arsene Wenger and “take back English Football from the Tippy-Tappyists.”

My operatives have informed me that Dean joined the group back in November of 2008 after he was in charge of the Chelsea v. Arsenal match which Arsenal won by dint of what looked like an offside goal to Robin van Persie. The Prime Minister of Canada* was furious and reportedly held Dean in a dungeon for three weeks after that game. Arsenal haven’t won a single League match with Mike Dean as referee since then, going 0-4-3 against such luminaries as Burnley, Newcastle, and Tottenham. Additionally, Dean has shown two red cards to Arsenal and given two penalties to Arsenal’s opposition in those 7 games. Which is four out of seven games in which a major incident has been called against Arsenal by Mike Dean.

The other problem for Arsenal is that they will need to deal with Adebayor. Adebayor is known among my circles as a gun for hire. He’s a ruthless killer who enjoys nothing less than getting revenge on former employers. Which you should know all too well having seen him in action with Manchester City against Arsenal. Of course, like all mercenaries, Adebayor can get lazy if not properly motivated and drift offside. Adebayor is also known for his wild temper and once literally stabbed a man with the hose end of a football pump.

In landing Adebayor, Spurs’ manager Harry “Twitchy” Redknapp has finally got a player who can win headers, which is how Spurs measure success. “‘Ow many baws can we lob in to the center forward?” is the phrase that Redknapp “literally” writes on the chalkboard before every match. And with Arsenal’s record dealing with that tactic, you probably couldn’t blame him if he tried it for 90 minutes. Their plan is simple and that works for them; get the ball to Bale who will try a cross, if that fails, simply lump it up to Adebayor.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt if the referees can send off three players in two games for you. And once the opposition is reduced to 10 or 9 men, Spurs actually do try to play the ball around — averaging 650 passes per game over their last two wins. You have to wonder, though, if they will have the stamina to play a passing game having played Shamrock Rovers on Thursday… because they are in the Europa League… because they finished below Arsenal… for the 16th consecutive season.

For Arsenal, the problem is that people keep slipping in the showers and getting injured. I’ve sent a message to “Crazy” Ivan Gazidis to install stickier bath mats in the shower but for this game it’s too late. Koscielny is out and that means Song and Per will probably partner in defense. It could mean a start for Emmanuel “DEEEEEENCH” Frimpong who was impressive against Olympiakos on Wednesday with 12 tackles and 4 interceptions. He would do well to heed the Dean, however, and keep his feet to himself.

Arsenal have struggled this season but what can you expect when your best player is kidnapped by the Spanish Mafia and your second-best player is bribed to walk away from the team which stood by him during an injury riddled career. But the signs are brighter Truth Seekers. Arsenal have landed a gentle giant in Per Mertesacker. A player who has admitted that Arsenal were his boyhood team and that Arsenal tried to sign him after the World Cup but were rebuffed by Werder. Robin van Persie has awoken from the coma that the Dutch national team doctors induced in him last year and Mikel Arteta is a great addition, willing to put his body on the line both offensively and defensively for his new team.

As you can see from my post, there’s so much that goes on in this world under the covers of darkness, Truth Seekers. Mike Dean and Adebayor are just the tip of the iceberg. But if you spend all your energy on the haters, you’ll be dragged down into their hatred. Instead, no matter what happens tomorrow, I will be standing by the good people. The people who love the Arsenal.

*What you don’t know about the Prime Minister of Canada could fill 1000 blogs, my friends.

Qq

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Dateline Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 Tacoma, Washington. I just spent the last 20 minutes watching various Emmanuel Adebayor goal celebrations on YouTube with Boots Randolph’s’ Yakety Saks playing in the background.

Seriously, try it; fire up this song, then open this dance compilation but mute the sound. SEE! Now, if someone has video editing capability, I would [...]]]>

Dateline Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 Tacoma, Washington. I just spent the last 20 minutes watching various Emmanuel Adebayor goal celebrations on YouTube with Boots Randolph’s’ Yakety Saks playing in the background.

Seriously, try it; fire up this song, then open this dance compilation but mute the sound. SEE! Now, if someone has video editing capability, I would appreciate it a ton if you could mash this up. Sadly, I don’t, maybe I should email Arsenalist and see if he can do it.

Email sent, now, where was I?

Oh yeah, Adebayor… It’s funny but every time he opens his mouth he sounds more and more like a stalker ex-boyfriend. You know, the guy who is so obsessed with his ex-girlfriend Arsenal he has like a whole secret room with nothing but photos of the two of them together pinned to the wall with hearts drawn around them, in pigs blood. That guy who throws rocks at his ex’s window hoping that she’ll come out like Rapunzel and let down her hair and take him back?

All he can talk about is Arsenal, Arsenal fans this, Arsenal fans that, Arsene Wenger didn’t like me, blah blah blah. Dude, seriously, you have a new girlfriend now and she’s super rich, why don’t you talk about her? I suspect that she’s not going to take too kindly to you constantly talking about your ex, especially since the last time you scored was a grudge fuck, where you ran 100 yards, and loudly screamed your ex’s name.

Get over it, we all have.

I’m 100 placenta sure this isn’t going to work

Are you still listening to the Yakety Sax? Good, because Robin van Persie is going to get placenta massage to cure his ankle knock. Weird, but hey, if it gets him back on the pitch on time I don’t care if he uses a faith healer, witch doctor, or any other form of nonsense.

I wonder if the Obama health plan covers placenta massage?

ZOMG did you know that Cesc is from Spain?

The shit stirrers have stirred the shit, as they do pretty much every week, and once again are linking Fabregas to Real Barcelona Madrid. I only linked to that story because it’s the Star and there’s some boobs in there, and I don’t just mean the writers.

I do like the new angle of these Cesc to Barca/Madrid stories, that it’s a tug of war between Nike and Adidas. That’s funny, to me.

Diaby poppy shirt sells for £800 more than I thought it would

The other day Arsenal held a silent auction for a signed poppy embroidered Abou Diaby shirt and, evidently, he got £820. Got $1,000 burning a hole in your pocket and want to help out the Royal British Legion? Well, you could still get Almunia’s shirt for the bargain basement price of just £382.

That’s it for today, see you tomorrow.

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Sorry about the late post today, but I was working on a different article and chose to scrap it because the dot com announced today that Ade has officially signed for City. So, instead of some self-important BS or pointless transfer rumoring I have decided to invite everyone to post their favorite memory of Adebayor as [...]]]>

Sorry about the late post today, but I was working on a different article and chose to scrap it because the dot com announced today that Ade has officially signed for City. So, instead of some self-important BS or pointless transfer rumoring I have decided to invite everyone to post their favorite memory of Adebayor as a farewell. You can say anything you want, but a really classy fan, someone who respects what he did for us and not how he left, would try to post their favorite memory.

Ironically, I have been accused of being a “hater” in the comments, but that’s about as far from the truth as possible. I am angry about the way he left, I am angry about the corrupting influence of insane amounts of money that some football teams have, and I am sad that his Arsenal career ended this way. But I can still find something good to say about the guy. Everyone talks about what a classy club Arsenal are, so let’s show them.

Wenger kicks this off with his remarks:

Firstly, we must thank Emmanuel for his contribution to the Club. Whenever he was on the pitch, he always gave absolutely everything to the team and since joining us in January 2006, he produced a number of match-winning performances. Emmanuel leaves with our best wishes and we now look forward continuing our preparations for next season.

Me? I’ll never forget the second goal against Charlton at Highbury. Totally inconsequential game to everyone except me. It was my first trip to London, my one and only trip to Highbury, and here’s this lanky guy that has just recently transferred in from Monaco working till his heart is nearly bursting alongside Arsenal greats like Pires and Henry. It was on that blisteringly cold spring day, as the sun was setting on the final season at the hallowed old ground, and the final season for many of those Unbeatable players, that Adebayor netted his first ever home goal for Arsenal. It was what would later become a staple of Adebayor’s goal scoring: he used his muscle and pace to steal the ball from Hreidarsson and then side-footed into the net with cool grace.

Ha! Let’s hope he doesn’t have too many more of those now that he’s sleeping with the enemy!

Anyway, enough about me, I want to hear your story, get some closure on this saga and post your memories below.

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One of the things I’ve discovered along the way is that [...]]]> I started this blog as a new year’s resolution to write every day. It’s a topic I’m passionate about, Arsenal in particular and football in general, and there’s a ton of easy research available. So I figured “just do it” and I haven’t looked back since.

One of the things I’ve discovered along the way is that in writing these blogs, and through the fan feedback, I actually learn to make sense of some things. This is especially true when it comes to complexities like transfers, transfer rumors, agents, and the press. If I had been raised in England, this stuff would all be old hat to me I imagine. But I wasn’t, I, instead, know all about how player trades in the NBA work — which is about as bat-shit crazy a system of caps and exceptions as you can imagine. So, given my accident of birth in the U.S., there are days when I just don’t know what the hell is going on and writing it all down, just getting it all out in one place , really helps.

This is one of those days.

For example… Why in the hell would Patrick Vieira go to Spurs? This man is an Arsenal legend who is reportedly being offered £35,000/wk. to play for a pack of, well, cunts. This story can’t be true can it? I mean, I’ve seen some patterns emerge over the last few years, so, for example every creative midfielder in the world is linked to Arsenal during the transfer season, usually they do it alphabetically going straight down the list. And as if he’s some kind of foil for Wenger, every defensive midfielder in the world is linked to Redknapp, constantly. But still, this is not just Miguel Veloso here, this is Patrick FUCKING Vieira! Do I believe this story? I haven’t a clue.

But I will say this: don’t do it Paddy.

The other stories that are boggling my mind are about money, vast sums of money, amounts that don’t even make any sense. Like, Man City offering John Terry £250,000/wk*. £13m a year! Nearly £6m more per year than he is making at Chelsea, the same Chelsea who have the highest, stoopidest, most kick to the balls of the working man, payroll in the history of football.

Sort of like Vieira but even more so, John Terry is the face of Chelsea (sometimes literally like when Diaby nearly kicked it in) this can’t be real, he just wants Chelsea to pay him more, and why aren’t they just doing it? It’s not like they don’t have the money.

One of the stories not being reported on, probably because it’s early in the transfer season, is the fact that somehow Chelsea have found themselves no longer the big dog in the room. Other than some Zhirkoff that they have added to their collection of Jerkoffs, Chelsea have failed to sign every single one of their targets so far this year: Pato, Ribery, uhhh who else I swear there was more? Instead, these players are standing pat, or waiting for the real big money offers from Real Madrid or Man City. If I was a Chelsea supporter, I might be getting nervous right about now. What’s Roman going to do? They don’t have a business model, they have a cash model, and right now their cash isn’t enough.

There’s been a lot of talk about Arsenal losing 4th place this season and with Man City amassing an amazing array of players, an eye watering cornucopia of the world’s talent in one place, you’d have to bet that they will certainly be pushing for one of the top spots. But you also have to think that the instability in Chelsea, caused by their mercinary tactics and constant firing of coaches, will be why they are the team most vulnerable to getting kicked out of the Champions League spot, not Arsenal. And if they lose Terry, I would be betting money on it.

And let’s turn back to City for just a second… I have confirmed yesterday’s rumor that City is supposedly offering Adebayor between £150-180,ooo per week. Which I have estimated to be about £200,000 per offside.

He’d be a fool not to take it, they are fools to offer it, and Arsenal will reap the rewards from his sale. Meanwhile, Wenger will push on doing what he’s done for years now, quietly building the best team in the land.

That is, if he’ll just sign an experienced defensive midfielder — if for no other reason than to placate us grumblers. It’s a win-win, right? Let’s say he signs Toulalan or Cana or M. Diarra (all supporter targets) and they don’t adapt and Song or Denilson are better — then he gets to do his patented “I told you these were the best players, believe in youth, we are creating something special” press conference. On the other hand, if they are successful, well then it’s a bit sad but next year we sell one of the folks they replaced and move on. Everyone’s happy.

And finally, there’s the belle of the ball, everyone’s favorite to win the League and last year’s “team who will win the Sext (Charity Shield, Premier League, FA and League Cups, Club World Cup, and Champions League) ” Manchester United.

Well, they are taking the £80m from the sale of CR7, nee CR9, and putting it straight into the bank. Well, they signed Michael “Balsa Legs” Owen for a free, and Antonio “Who?” Valencia for £18m, but other than that, Fergie’s saying that he’s closed the window on transfers at Man U. Have you noticed the press reaction to Fergie’s statement? Have you noticed that there aren’t any articles saying that the club is in crisis, or wondering if Fergie’s “lost the plot?” Man U, a club that is nearly three times as in debted as Arsenal, a club who can’t afford to make the interest payments on their line of credit, make two minor purchases after losing their star player and everyone’s all “meh.”

It really has gone mad, hasn’t it?

*I do know that that’s a link to a Daily Star “article” which is the boobiest of all newspapers but this figure is widely being reported and sometimes it’s ok to link to a funny newspaper like the Daily Star.

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T-minus 5 days until Arsenal play in the first pre-season friendly against Barnet and the squad is starting to take shape.

First, it was announced this morning that Adebayor is in talks with Man City to shore up their need for a big, languid, striker who occasionally scores eye-wateringly beautiful goals. The fee is reportedly £20m and [...]]]>

T-minus 5 days until Arsenal play in the first pre-season friendly against Barnet and the squad is starting to take shape.

First, it was announced this morning that Adebayor is in talks with Man City to shore up their need for a big, languid, striker who occasionally scores eye-wateringly beautiful goals. The fee is reportedly £20m and could go some way toward buying a replacement and pulling in the last piece of the puzzle in midfield.

In a bit of a surprise move, last month Wenger publicly stated that the club are interested in £10m rated Bordeaux striker, Marouane Chamakh should Adebayor leave and so pretty much everyone expects that Chamakh would be the replacement.

I know a lot of folks will be happy to see the back of Adebayor, but I’m not one of them. He’s one of Arsenal’s best strikers and he adds a whole new dimension to the attack that we lacked for so long. I know, he was pitiful and lazy and off sides over 40 times last year. I also know that the list of grievances for some folks is long and varied.

I know.

But I was kind of hoping that Cesc and Wenger would sit him down and just shake his tree a bit, get him to snap out of these doldrums. But it looks like that never happened and now he may be off to Citeh.

I haven’t ever seen Chamakh play outside of the YouTube videos that show him missing a lot of goals but if he’s the type of guy who can hold the ball up, work hard, and get the occasional header, then he and Bendtner will be pushing each other for playing time. The other interesting fact about Chamakh is that he plays for the Moroccan national team, in spite of having the ability to play for France. What this means if he comes to Arsenal is that, yes, he will be playing in 2010 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. Which is a wash because Adebayor would have as well — well theoretically, if he didn’t get kicked out of the team again.

Either way, striker is not that critical a position for me. We’ve got Robin van Persie, Eduardo, Arshavin, Bendtner, Walcott, and Vela who can all play there. If the first two are healthy, I have no concerns — of course, that’s a pretty big IF, so it makes sense that Arsene is looking for one more.

In the midfield, reports have M’Bia signing for l’OM today, which takes him off our transfer targets list, but frees up Lorik Cana who has hinted that a move was in the works (with an unspecified club) as soon as the club that he captained signed a suitable replacement.

Hell, for Adebayor’s £20m (and his £80k/wk salary) we could get Chamakh (£10m), Cana (£6.5m), and Matuidi (£2.5m)! Unlike last year, I think it’s pretty clear that the fan’s, and player’s, agitation for some sort of serious experienced signing has reached the ears of Arsene and the board. I’d be shocked to the core if they sold Adebayor and sat on the money.

I’m also ruling out Felipe Melo today as reports have him undergoing a physical. I was always underwhelmed by the performances I watched, though I was impressed with his passing range, so the fee of £22m always seemed a bit steep. But as CaribKid pointed out in yesterday’s comments that’s what happens when you are a starter for Brazil.

With all of the above said, here’s the key thing to remember:

DON’T PANIC!

We have all of this month and all of August to go before the transfer window closes so it’s a bit premature to start panicking. Now, if Ade is sold and we still haven’t brought anyone in by the start of the season (August 15th away to Everton) well, then I might get a bit tetchy.

Gooner of the Year

We must get a different reader here than at the dot com, because our poll for Gooner of the Year, taken earlier this season, came up quite a bit different than theirs. It wasn’t even close, Arshavin won by a landslide in my poll.

Irregardless how we voted, congratulations are in order for Robin van Persie who scooped the Player of the Year award over at the dot com. He had a good season and remained relatively healthy for the whole year. Thank you sir, may we have another?

England’s Future #1

This will not surprise my regular readers, but for the new folks, prepare yourself for a hell of a shock: the Yank who writes about Arsenal thinks that if Almunia gets his British passport, AND he’s selected by England’s Italian coach, AND he’s got gigantic balls, then he should play for England.

I know the arguments, he’s not English because his mum and dad aren’t English. But frankly that’s an old way of looking at the world. Now days, people can change nationalities, that’s just the reality and I think we need to get over the old, biological, and in some ways xenophobic, way of looking at the world.  Fabrice Muamba is English, right?

That said, would I play for England if I was him?

NO FUCKING WAY.

Don’t get me wrong, since Almunia is eligible for an English passport I think he should get it, at the very least him having the ‘correct’ passport will shut up some of the 6+5 ers. But there is no way in hell you could get me to pull on that white shirt because the criticism I hear you all level at your best players, home town boys that you all supposedly love, would turn quickly to vitriol the first time he made a mistake.

The problem is, as a ‘foreigner’ he will never be good enough in many people’s eyes. Twitchy Redknapp had a rip at him this spring when he was just rumored to be thinking about trying out. The first time he doesn’t command his penalty box, the boo boys will come out and every media outlet from Penzance to Berwick upon Tweed will be calling for Calamity James’ reinstatement to the team.

I don’t know how the English national team players handle you guys as it is, but with everyone in England and potential teammates, like Ferdinand, saying that they don’t want him to do it, I’m just going to say that he shouldn’t do it. He’s not man enough to take all that on. No one is.  Just get your passport Manny and give up on your dream to play in any World Cup.

That said…

If that crazy mother fucker gets his passport and gets chosen for the England team, then I’ll be here, in America, rooting him on to glory. Why not?

He’s only 34

Former Arsenal striker, John Hartson, has brain cancer. He’s only 34 and just a few years out of the game for gods sake. I really do wish him and his family the best of luck and a speedy recovery.

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You know it’s a bad night when you wake up on the living room floor in the middle of the night with a pair of traffic cones and a Scooby Doo comic book. Fortunately, it’s a [...]]]> Good lord… I think I might have drank a bit too much last night celebrating my independence from something or another.

You know it’s a bad night when you wake up on the living room floor in the middle of the night with a pair of traffic cones and a Scooby Doo comic book. Fortunately, it’s a Sunday and that almost always means little or no news. I guess I get off light today! I need it.

First up, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has expressed his interest in revisiting the “Super League” idea: wherein basically the G-18 would play each other in a special, extra competition. I think of it as sort of a “39th game on steroids.”

I’d like to think that something like this would never happen but when it comes to money and big clubs you just never know so, lets take a second and see just how stupid this idea is.

First, the best clubs in the world already play each other in the Champions League. I know he says that they don’t, but it’s not true. Last year Arsenal played Porto, Fener, Roma, Villareal and Man U in the Champions League. Now, I’m not sure who Perez would include in his little circle jerk of “top clubs” but those are top clubs in their respective divisions. In fact, if you look at the history of the Champions League Finals, it’s almost always 2 clubs from the G-18. So, it’s a lie that the world’s top clubs don’t play each other. What’s really going on is that Real Madrid have been dumped out of the Champions League in the first knockout round 5 years in a row now and haven’t gotten past the second round since they won all the way back in 2001. They are just sore losers.

Second, we don’t need more games because more games means deeper squads. Thus, only clubs that are engaged in financial doping would be able to afford the squad needed to engage in such a system. So basically it would be a “super league” of Chelsea, Man U, Real Madrid, and Manchester City. That would be a lot of fun, wouldn’t it?

Speaking of Man City and buying trophies, Martin Petrov figgers that City could be “as good as” Arsenal. Here’s the thing about that… no chance. I’m not saying they won’t be able to buy a few big names and gather a team of some of the world’s most expensive talent and hell, they might even be able to parley that into a top 4 finish or even a few trophies. But they need about 20 years of challenging for the top of the league to be “as good as” Arsenal. Besides which, it’s temporary, this spending, just look at Chelsea — biggest paychecks in the league, biggest transfers in the league, a BILLION U.S. dollars spent, and all they won was two Premier Leagues and two FA Cups.

And now, as the sun’s setting on Chelsea and the glimmer of gold is shining at Real Madrid and Man Citeh, Chelsea’s having a devil of a time holding on to their current squad of mercenaries, much less attracting top talent like Ribery.  That seems to be the cycle at these clubs; throwing tons of money around gets temporary success, followed by years of mediocrity.

Enjoy it while you can, City supporters.

Transfer Snooze

Evidently, the Alsacian army is storming across Belgium picking up want away players left and right. After signing Tommy Vermaelen, Arsenal are now being begged to snap up Eden Hazard, by none other than Eden Hazard himself. We’re pretty full of attacking options on this team, and he’s a bit young and raw, so I’m not sure we really need him. Which means he’s almost certainly going to be unveiled as the newest Arsenal signing on Monday, right?

Right… Arsene will unveil him right after we send Adebayor to AC Milan for £20m plus Flamini. Wait, £20m PLUS a player for Adebayor? Something doesn’t add up. See, I put Adebayor’s value at around £15m and rumor has it that Flamini has a huge annual salary, one that we didn’t want to pay and that now AC Milan doesn’t really want to pay either. So, if you take Adebayor’s £20m and SUBTRACT the inflation on Flamini’s contract I bet this drags Adebayor’s value down to the £15m range!

Perfect! So this too is a done deal, right?

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Good day.

I can’t really say “good morning” anymore because, well, because I’ve been officially picked up by NewsNow and that means, starting today, more people from all over the world are going to be reading this blog. Kinda scary, kinda exciting, I better make it a good blog eh?

I do want to recognize my long suffering [...]]]>

Good day.

I can’t really say “good morning” anymore because, well, because I’ve been officially picked up by NewsNow and that means, starting today, more people from all over the world are going to be reading this blog. Kinda scary, kinda exciting, I better make it a good blog eh?

I do want to recognize my long suffering readers before the insanity of having a whole new audience sets in, you guys are the reason I do this. Your insights into the game, into Arsenal, into global finance, into the global nature of the game, and just into human nature in general are invaluable. When I write, I tend to speak with the voice of authority but really you all have taught me so much. Thank you and I hope you know that your comments will always stand out with me among the other voices that are about to join us. Now, on with the blog…

I was reading through the news feeds last night and came across a translation of an interview with le Boss on French Radio RMC via our friends at Gooner Talk. So, I did some digging of my own and found the original and ran it through my own translator (Google Translate!) and it looks like an important interview even if it is brief. I will rely on my French speakers to let me know if I missed something in translation.

The big bombshell that everyone is talking about, because it is transfer season, is that Wenger is actually looking at Chamakh as a replacement for Adebayor. Not going so far as to say that he wants to sell Ade, because that would be dumb, but he puts the ball in Ade’s court, saying:

If he does not want to stay, then we will start looking (for replacements) but I think he will be with Arsenal this season.

As I have said many times in the past, I like Adebayor. Owing to the fact that on my very few trips to see the matches in person I ended up being there when he scored his first ever home goal. Plus, for years, he wasn’t the best striker in England, but he worked his ass off and I appreciate hard work over lazy talent all day. So, I have been a staunch defender of Ade — until this year. Now that it seems the talent is there, the hard work has evaporated, leaving him as a guy who is basically disrupting Arsenal’s flow with his constant offsides and who occasionally puts in a world class, audacious goal.

So, I see Wenger’s point. If he WANTS it, he could be one of the top strikers in the world. In which case, let’s keep him. Conversely, if he just going to be a lazy loudmouth who disrupts what Arsenal are building, Wenger will find another tall fellow who can hold the ball up, stays onside, and works hard as the lone striker; Chamakh.

That’s the “bombshell” from the interview and what you’ll read about in all the papers but there’s some subtler things at work here that I think are equally important. Things like, what’s Arsene’s future at the club and what’s the long term plan for this team?

There is no doubt that Wenger had his head turned by Real Madrid this summer. Clearly they approached him and said “hey, we’ve got this plan to buy up all the world’s talent. How would you feel about coaching Ronaldo, Kaka, and Benzema?” His response is a bigger bomb than whether he wants to replace a wantaway Adebayor, in my mind:

Obviously, yes, because I’m at a point in my career where I must consider these things. I’ve been at Arsenal for twelve years and I do not want to become stagnant. But, I refused because I have built a young team and I wanted to finish what I started. There’s no doubt that this will be a decisive year. If this team is not challenging for a title, the club will rebuild everything.

In a lot of ways this isn’t anything new. Wenger has often maintained publicly that he is committed to the cause at Arsenal, that he started this youth project 5 years ago, and that he wants to see it through to fruition; a Champions League trophy. But what is new is the admission that this is it, either this team wins something this year or he’s blowing it up, “tout reconstruire” he says.

Complete reconstruction.

Maybe I’m reading this wrong, but that’s a bigger bombshell than whether we buy some replacement for Adebayor.

Complete reconstruction.

It makes sense too, with van Persie, Arshavin, and Cesc itching to add to their trophy cabinets I can’t see them being content with being out of the title race in November again. Which Arsene calls “ce qui a fait grincer les dents” it would feel like grinding your teeth.

So, maybe Wenger’s just being realistic and admitting that if we don’t get a trophy he’d need to let those three go and start over. Throw in Gallas’ contract situation (ending this year), Toure wanting away, and all the other experienced players who have been making smoke in the press and maybe this is an admission from Wenger that this is it, the last chance saloon. Win or go home.

What with Joan Laporta tapping up Cesc pretty much daily now and Arsene locking up the youth with all these long term contracts (Rambo and Wilshere) it looks like Arsenal are actually poised to blow the team up if needed.

That Wenger has admitted it publicly that’s the real bombshell to me.

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